For a footrace in the far north, the Alaska 10K Classic had quite the southern accent Saturday.

Runners from North Carolina and Virginia blew away the competition in the annual 10-kilometer road race -- but did so without damaging civic pride.

One of the winners is an Alaskan attending college in North Carolina and the other is dating a former Alaskan who lives in Virginia, so even xenophobes can embrace their triumphs.

Jesse Cherry, a 2005 graduate of Chugiak who attends Highpoint University, beat Michael Wisniewski -- the city's top road racer the last two summers -- by almost a minute to win the men's race in 30 minutes, 41.6 seconds.

His victory was a photo finish compared to the way Mina Thorstenson, 25, dominated the women's race. Thorstenson, who is visiting Alaska with 1992 Bartlett High graduate James DeMarco, won in 36:48.6, more than four minutes ahead of second-place Deborah Cropper.

Her time placed her 15th overall, ahead of accomplished male runners like Sam Hill, John Clark and Jason Hofacker.

She couldn't beat her boyfriend, though. DeMarco, a former All-American runner at South Dakota State, was 11th in 36:00.3.

"I was trying to catch him, but I couldn't," Thorstenson said. "I was able to see him until Mile 4 and then he started to run faster."

Thorstenson and DeMarco both live in Blacksburg, Va., where DeMarco owns a running store and coaches a high school team and Thorstenson is studying to be an osteopath. She just took her board exams and will begin rotations soon, so the pair took advantage of the break in her schedule to visit Alaska.

Running is a good outlet for the stress that comes with school, Thorstenson said. A member of the Mississippi State track and cross country teams as an undergraduate, she runs about 50 or 60 miles a week and said she's running faster now than she did in college.

Cherry, 23, is running faster than ever too. He's coming off a track season in which he recorded a personal-best time of 28:59 in the 10,000 meters.

Although he'd never run a 10-K road race until Saturday, Cherry said he didn't over-think the differences between a track race and a road race.

"I've been running so long, and I've done long workouts on the roads, so I just wanted to go out there and run," he said.

Cherry led through the first mile of the 6.2-mile race that started at Alaska Pacific University and ended at the west end of the Delaney Park Strip.

Wisniewski -- the defending 10K Classic champ who is coming off a record-setting victory in the Mayor's Marathon -- passed him during the second mile, but Cherry was back in the lead by about the fourth mile and never trailed again.

Cherry leaves soon for Highpoint, where he'll be a fifth-year senior with one more year of track eligibility. He's completing two degrees -- computer science and English -- and suspects this may be the last summer he'll be able to spend in Alaska. "I'm excited to start a career," he said.

At the awards ceremony after the race, Cherry told the crowd that he ran in honor of 22-year-old Kalgin Koch, a friend and fellow runner who died two weeks ago while competing in a mountain run.

"Every race I run is going to be for him," Cherry said.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

Alaska 10-K Classic

Men's top 100

1) Jesse Cherry 30:41.6; 2) Michael Wisniewski 31:37.3; 3) David Kiplagat 31:52.1; 4) Ryan Davis 33:52.7; 5) Ryan Cox 34:11.6; 6) Nathaniel Knapp 34:57.4; 7) Jeffrey Young 35:30.8; 8) Jan Spurkland 35:46.2; 9) Aaron Wheatall 35:55.3; 10) Samuel Cassel 35:58.6; 11) James DeMarco 36:00.3; 12) Scott Clementson 36:07.0; 13) Robert Walgren 36:20.7; 14) Ryan Beclatt 36:22.1; 15) Jason Hofacker 37:00.7; 16) Ben Wheatall 37:24.0; 17) Michael Enz 37:33.0; 18) Christopher Ashland 37:34.9; 19) Sam Hill 37:39.5; 20) John Clark 37:39.8; 21) Keith Weinhold 37:46.0; 22) Noah Hagen 37:52.3; 23) Bob Davis 37:52.7; 24) Michael Stuart 38:01.2; 25) Lamont Hawkins 38:11.4; 26) Matt Gillis 38:40.1; 27) Chris Bronte 38:40.3; 28) Tobin Munn 38:57.0; 29) Edward Frank 39:10.0; 30) Shannon Martin 39:12.0; 31) Jeff Arndt 39:18.2; 32) Patrick Lavin 39:20.0; 33) Allen Rosenthal 39:50.7; 34) Bob Wheeler 39:55.2; 35) David Bradley 40:19.0; 36) Eric Vilce 40:22.6; 37) Timothy Rawson 40:33.1; 38) Wilson Stark 40:43.1; 39) Greg MacDonald 41:11.1; 40) Josh Hedberg 41:24.9; 41) Joel Brandt 41:26.4; 42) Gregory Scofield 41:30.5; 43) Derek Morgan 41:39.2; 44) Devon Wootten 42:42.9; 45) Justin Pedersen 42:53.5; 46) Guy Schwartz 42:57.8; 47) Mark Dent 43:16.2; 48) Quentin Reuer 43:22.4; 49) John Brewer 43:24.9; 50) Rafael Castaneda 43:31.8; 51) Alex Odegaard 43:39.4; 52) Dallas Smith 43:43.8; 53) Kenneth Holt 44:01.8; 54) Adam Leslie 44:10.8; 55) Matt Smith 44:32.2; 56) John Pontarolo 44:33.8; 57) Joshua Satterfield 44:36.6; 58) John Papineau 44:38.3; 59) Garret Slaugenhoup 44:53.3; 60) Dave Bias 44:59.3; 61) Justin Neff 45:01.1; 62) Michael Woodworth 45:01.8; 63) Henry Lyford 45:02.0; 64) Brad Richie 45:05.9; 65) Eric Skidmore 45:07.7; 66) Tom Nabity 45:07.8; 67) Dan Baldwin 45:13.9; 68) Enrico Tutaan 45:14.5; 69) Jay Liggett 45:22.8; 70) Bradley Cruz 45:25.5; 71) Nicholas Perkett 45:33.7; 72) Grant Stuart 45:41.1; 73) Matt Nedom 45:51.2; 74) Rusty Myer 45:53.0; 75) Scott Kasayulie 45:54.3; 76) Justin Goodman 45:59.6; 77) Toby Widdicombe 46:01.1; 78) Rich Dale 46:03.8; 79) Eddie Clements 46:05.8; 80) David Brown 46:11.7; 81) Jim Leonard 46:29.4; 82) Joel Ainsworth 46:36.1; 83) Bill Diel 46:40.2; 84) Ken Holmes 46:54.8; 85) Brian Dean 46:59.7; 86) John Smith 47:11.5; 87) Mark Hazard 47:12.2; 88) David Houston 47:18.3; 89) Ryan Bergerson 47:27.3; 90) Tracy Morgan 47:29.0; 91) Neil Lamothe 47:34.1; 92) Kurt Dannerth 47:43.9; 93) Sean Zumwalt 47:58.5; 94) Ben Angler 48:03.8; 95) Bob Eastaugh 48:07.0; 96) Kev Davidson 48:35.2; 97) Scotty Borg 48:41.4; 98) Daniel Whitfield 49:08.2; 99) Lee Weikert 49:11.4; 100) Lordsel Glory 49:23.1.

Women's top 100

1) Mina Thorstenson 36:48.6; 2) Deborah Cropper 40:55.2; 3) Anna Dalton 43:33.4; 4) Mary Barrett 43:49.9; 5) April Juliussen 44:25.8; 6) Megan Corazza 44:58.7; 7) Claire Norton-Cruz 45:25.3; 8) Lisa Dale 45:45.0; 9) Liz Wheatall 45:52.1; 10) Wendy Mitchell 46:09.0; 11) Catalina Myers 46:42.3; 12) Victoria Clark 46:45.2; 13) Amy Connaker 47:19.0; 14) Andra Love 47:22.9; 15) Michelle Bittner 47:49.3; 16) Kerry Lyons 48:15.5; 17) Lesley Yamauchi 48:22.4; 18) Lisa Smith 48:49.3; 19) Amy Erickson 48:52.2; 20) Cathy Duffy 48:55.2; 21) Laura Edwards 49:05.8; 22) Michele Hugulet 49:08.4; 23) Leslie Rawson 49:19.0; 24) Janet Morrone 49:21.6; 25) Satorene Jackson 49:23.5; 26) Peggie Gallagher 49:54.1; 27) Emily Gettein 50:10.1; 28) Judy Blake 50:12.8; 29) Larissa Pestryakova 50:31.2; 30) Janelle Gomez 50:33.8; 31) Stacey Meyer 50:53.7; 32) Marti Maley 51:02.4; 33) Veronica Vania 51:25.3; 34) Anne Fiedler 51:27.9; 35) Rachel Andrews 51:36.5; 36) Randi Wiley 51:51.8; 37) Debra Kinn 51:54.4; 38) Kayle Blackmore 52:04.0; 39) Mary Diel 52:07.2; 40) Carol Fraser 52:08.1; 41) Lisa Christensen 52:25.3; 42) Kate Dingle-Craig 52:25.9; 43) Amy MacKenzie 52:41.3; 44) Alli Tuckowski 52:53.9; 45) Anne Anderson 53:03.1; 46) Rachel Leman 53:13.2; 47) Jennifer Hillman 53:18.1; 48) Cassie Iutzi 53:18.3; 49) Alicia Kelly 53:34.7; 50) Sue Wilkens 53:39.5; 51) Pok Maley 53:46.0; 52) Melissa Matthews 53:55.2; 53) Marianne Elson-Griffith 53:56.9; 54) Cherith Lafferty 53:57.3; 55) Amy May 54:08.2; 56) Nicole Votaw 54:08.2; 57) Jennifer Stenberg 54:31.5; 58) Rachelle Alger 54:35.0; 59) Annie Luck 54:48.3; 60) Danielle May 54:48.7; 61) Kristin Wilkinson 54:50.1; 62) Hannah Reichert 54:51.5; 63) Kathy Walgren 54:58.9; 64) Sara Pfau 55:08.6; 65) Kelly Mazzei 55:12.8; 66) Janey Wahlman 55:23.1; 67) Tamara Deschaune 55:29.6; 68) Jennifer Kuhlmann 55:32.5; 69) Pam Barbeau 55:39.4; 70) Rachael Stohr 55:40.8; 71) Jo Murray 55:51.8; 72) Kelly Smith 55:53.2; 73) Melissa Pavlos 55:59.8; 74) Jennifer Gessert 56:01.6; 75) Marlys Morton 56:06.2; 76) Marie Vinson 56:06.9; 77) Brandi Ozio 56:19.5; 78) Denise Ra 56:21.3; 79) Dianna Clementson 56:31.2; 80) Lisa Ramstad 56:33.0; 81) Erin Edin 56:47.8; 82) Luemma Balise 56:59.9; 83) Dynasti Roark 57:02.0; 84) Cathy Satterfield 57:11.5; 85) Stacy Wheeler 57:17.9; 86) Taylor Hanley 57:17.9; 87) Alisa Chard 57:19.2; 88) Katee Chard 57:19.3; 89) Kate Galbreath 57:20.5; 90) Kim Baldwin 57:24.0; 91) Verneese Maney-Rouzan 57:25.5; 92) Mary Flanigin 57:36.1; 93) Kelsey Campbell 57:37.9; 94) Laura Callsen 57:47.4; 95) Brandy Richards 57:51.7; 96) Hannah Ray 58:10.6; 97) Jeannette Bulaong 58:17.8; 98) Dona Endsley 58:18.2; 99) Kelly Todd 58:35.1; 100) Nina Peacock 58:38.1.

5-K

Men

1) Cody Huggins 18:18.8; 2) Jack Parke 18:43.8; 3) Billy Hall 23:02.2; 4) Jonathan Roach 23:02.9; 5) Jason Grenn 23:12.7; 6) Chad Corcoran 24:19.9; 7) Jim Lieb 25:26.9; 8) Don Cassel 25:39.0; 9) Dave Akers 26:12.4; 10) Kameron Perez-Verdia 27:10.5; 11) Christopher Ledeboer 27:14.3; 12) Tracy Tucker 27:18.6; 13) Kelly Gage 27:20.2; 14) Don May 31:11.9; 15) Tommie Baker 31:48.6; 16) Bert Hartley 32:09.3; 17) Chris Schott 32:12.6; 18) Chester Franz 34:33.6; 19) Glen Tromblay 35:27.1; 20) Jim Soucek 36:46.7; 21) David Kolesky 45:06.5; 22) Andrew Marson 52:04.5; 23) Joe Ford 1:01:04.1; 24) Mike Ford 1:01:04.3;

Women

1) Jamie Krediet 23:50.2; 2) Sophia McAllister 26:05.9; 3) Monica Perez-Verdia 27:10.4; 4) Lana Grossman 27:18.1; 5) Jovy Roach 27:57.8; 6) Susan Krediet 28:30.4; 7) Brenda Cox 28:50.2; 8) Elizabeth McAllister 29:24.7; 9) Joan Clark 31:12.3; 10) Gabrielle Willis 31:28.6; 11) Kristin Schott 32:12.0; 12) Sara Rahn-Giamboa 32:43.3; 13) Michelle Hall 33:11.1; 14) Kim Akers 34:05.4; 15) Alexandra Hill 35:08.6; 16) Denise Demetree 35:22.7; 17) Francesca Escobar 35:44.9; 18) Rebecca Gianotti 36:19.1; 19) Barbara Demarco 36:22.7; 20) Nadine Graves 36:33.1; 21) Micaela Jones 37:23.4; 22) Hattie Little 38:39.1; 23) Suzanne Little 39:00.9; 24) Suege Omnik 39:29.4; 25) Heidi Battain 40:39.0; 26) Anne Monaco 51:34.1; 27) Shirley Holloway 54:38.2; 28) M. Jeanette Wilson 54:41.4;

ADVERTISEMENT